SULTAN QABOOS POSTPONES VISIT TO IRAN

S E C R E T MUSCAT 000659 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/06/23 TAGS: PREL MU IR SUBJECT: SULTAN QABOOS POSTPONES VISIT TO IRAN REF: A) MUSCAT 637; B) MUSCAT 633 CLASSIFIED BY: L. Victhor Hurtado, CdA; REASON: 1.4(B),(C),(D) ¶1. (C) On the margins of a dinner for Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC) delegates June 22, MFA SecGen Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al-Hamud Al Busaidi told U.S. delegate Conny Arvis that, after much thought, Oman had decided to "postpone" the Sultan's June 28-30 trip to Iran. Further, Oman had informed the Iranians of the decision. Sayyid Badr characterized the Iranians as "unhappy" with the news. ¶2. (S) Separately, the Royal Office summoned the Embassy's acting POLM Chief the morning of June 23 to confirm the decision to postpone. ¶3. (SBU) As of COB June 23, this decision was not yet public. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: Like many others, the Omanis are clearly taken aback by the crisis precipitated by the (mis)handling of the Iranian presidential election. It appears that the Sultan concluded that there was no margin in becoming a pawn in an Iranian power struggle. END COMMENT. HURTADO